Shiva’s owner met me at the hospital today and you could tell just how much she loves this girl. She sent with Shiva, her favourite toys, a blanket and some food. She even gave BHRR a donation. I promised to send her updates and pictures and she has our website to follow Shiva’s progress. I brought Shiva into the hospital and she weighed 39.4 KGs(86.68 pounds) and we also verified her spay(she has a noticeable incision). She is a good weight(a wee bit plump) yet looks wonderful and though a bit skittish, settled down well. Once she has had time to get used to being with us, we will micrcochip and do her nails. Shiva sat on the scale beautifully(she knows her commands in french really well) and was a model passenger on the way home. She lied down and other than looking about her; was very content to lie there and at one point just flopped right on her side and stretched out! When I arrived home; Sean had put all the dogs away and she was a bit growly in the car at him and her hackles went up slightly. She is suppose to be better with women than men and with me leaving tomorrow for Ohio; this will be a great oppotunity for her and Sean to get better acquainted. Once I brought her out of the vehicle, she was less stressed with Sean being there and after a few moments of her looking a bit nervous, I handed over the leash with some calming words/a touch and went to our car to get some things out. She was very calm and no longer worried. She pulls a bit on the leash, so we will be working on that. She came into the house without any worry and I had Sean keep her on a leash while I let the 4.5 month old Porridge out of his crate. He was so funny…he was all over ‘mom’ first and once he felt that he got enough of the ‘mom’ AKA ME; he greeted Shiva. She was a little wary yet within seconds was fine and I took her off the leash. Abbi, who was in her crate in the sunroom, was making all of these sounds and play bowing in her crate and tail was wagging a mile a minute. After about 10 minutes and Porridge trying to bring Shiva every toy in the house to play with him; LOL; I let Abbi out and WOW! WOW! WOW! Abbi took to Shiva like one of her DBB sisters. She was playbowing, following her and trying to get Shiva to play and Shiva began to play! I opened up the front door when things began to get a bit rambunctious and out the three of them scooted to go romp in the yard. Shiva has been doing a lot of exploring and Abbi is staying close to her and playing with her and doing a lot of playbowing….Abbi LOVES Shiva and Porridge has a crush! LOL They have now been in and out of the house several times and things have gone beautifully. I will not integrate Shiva with the whole herd in one day and will soon crate her to give her some ‘safe’ & ‘quiet’ time. She has not gone to the bathroom since she arrived nor drank anything yet she has shown a lot of curiousity in her surroundings and has done a lot of investigations. Even with the rest of the ‘mob’ LOL barking and whining throught the ensuite windows; she has shown no fear, just curiousity at everything. She does love the outside, that is for sure…..I wanted to give a bit of an update after her arrival and before I left as to how she is doing. She is not much bigger in height to Abbi either! I have also learned that her birthdate is June 10th, 2007, so she is 14 months old now. A pretty wee thing, just like Abbi! You can tell that this girl has spunk and pesonality and I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead as we get to learn each other and progress to Shiva being that great asset to home and community. I can tell already that she is going to keep me on my toes! LOL Her vaccines are not due until January 3rd, 2009. I also promise to get some pictures of this beauty up soon! I honestly do not feel that it is going to be long before this sweetie will be available for adoption. We will have to work through that ‘honeymoon’ period and do a thorough temperament and behavoural assessment BUT I am loving what I am seeing. She is going to deeply benefit from some detailed obedience classes and we will see how the crate training goes and how anxious she might become upon being left alone plus any housebreaking, barking and/or chewing issues she might have in relation to that. Like any new addition to our program, the first few nights are the hardest on all of us and we will take it one day at a time with her. I do know already that she should really be in a home with at least one other dog and whether she needs to be in a home with someone there all day or part-time or can go to a full-time working home; that remains to be seen. Right now, the three monkeys are tearing in and out of my house……LOL and she has already added her signature to our newly re-finished hardwood floors with some scratches from those nails of hers! 😛 WELCOME to our home Shiva! LOL NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!!!!